What Should Your Brand Messaging Be?

It’s a crucial thing to get sorted for your business, ideally before you start writing for it – a bit like figuring out what a pub’s vibe is before you open the doors – but it can be one of the most difficult and daunting things to crack. So let’s look at what brand messaging is, what it isn’t, and how to get it right…

 

What is Brand Messaging?

Your brand messaging is not one single thing – it’s everything about how you want your business to come across. It’s how you make your customers feel, and the emotions you evoke in them. It’s whether you’re smart or casual, comforting or inspiring. If you had premises and welcomed new customers on from the street, your brand message would be summed up by your ideal interior design. It’s everything about what you deliver, the difference you make, and why you’re the one to do it. In a nutshell, it’s what you stand for – and it needs to be present in everything you say or write about your business.

So it’s not one standalone product checklist, set of values or mission statement – but all of these things should be infused with your brand message, and be unmistakeably You.

 

What should yours be?

Your message needs to be clear, concise, authentic, and epitomise what makes your business special.

So if you’re a baker who uses your gran’s old recipe, then your message is about tradition, quality, and a little bit of nostalgia. If you’re a tech startup creating a new app, then your message is about innovation and making life easier. Your brand message should be a reflection of who you are, the problems you solve, and why you do what you do – along with a good dose of the approach you bring to it all as well.

It also needs to be consistent. Every time a customer interacts with you – whether they’re looking at your website, reading a post on social media, or talking to you in person – the message should be the same. That builds trust, and it shows you know what you’re about – and when they meet you in person, it will all match up beautifully and create a brand picture in their mind about what it will be like to work with you.

If my website was plastered with images of me in a suit and in a corporate office setting, new clients would get a shock when I turn up to meet them in my usual jeans, wax jacket and celtic earrings combo. It wouldn’t be what they were expecting, and sows the seeds of mistrust instantly. It could also mean that I’m attracting clients who are looking for someone different – meaning we may not be the right fit for each other, wasting time on both sides. So getting the right message across from the outset is really important in a number of ways.

 

What brand messaging is not

Now for the ‘what it isn’t’ part, which is just as important. Your brand message isn’t just a list of features: the product extras they’ll get, or that your service is ‘affordable’. Those are just facts. Your brand message is about the benefits and outcomes of those things. It’s about how your product makes someone’s life better, or the feeling they get when they use your service. It’s the difference between saying “This coffee is hot” and “This coffee is a little moment of peace on a frantic Monday morning.”

 

How to get it right

Brand messaging is a daunting concept to crack. But if you start with the true purpose – that it’s for your customers to read, not you – then you’re on th right track. Your perfect brand messaging isn’t actually about you. The best brand messages are the ones that instantly resonate with the customer as the solution to their problem. You’re not the hero of the story; your customer is, and the outcome they’ll have in their life when they’ve bought from you. You’re the wise guide, the clever expert, the friendly shopkeeper who helps them to get what they need. That’s the most important thing to keep in mind when you’re crafting yours – and when you get it right, your brand messaging will not only bring in customers, but keep them coming back for more.

 

This month’s KnowHow video is all about the precise words to use when you’re crafting your brand messaging, and where to find them for your unique business. You can access this and all my past KnowHow videos when you sign up to my Writing Hub: flexible support for busy people who need to write for their business. More details here…. RLC Words Writing Hub